Mrs. Obama: ‘Barack Has Done a Phenomenal Job Working Around a Congress...’

First lady Michelle Obama smiles as she greets supporters on the University of Nevada Reno campus on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012 in Reno, Nev.. (AP Photo/Reno Gazette-Journal, Andy Barron)

(CNSNews.com) – “[Y]ou can have a president you love, but if you don’t have a Congress that’s willing to work, you know, you wind up stalled in so many ways,” First Lady Michelle Obama said Wednesday on Tom Joyner’s radio program.

“And I think that Barack has done a phenomenal job working around a Congress that has never been willing to help move the country forward on so many different issues,” she said.

“But I think he’s done everything humanly possible to get things passed around the margins. But, you know, just imagine where this country will be when we have Barack Obama as president and we have a Congress that’s ready to work hand-in-hand, and willing to compromise to make sure that this country moves forward for everyone.”

“It’s critical. It’s critical,” she added.

The last time President Obama had a Democrat-majority Congress – his first two years in office -- the Democrats passed a massive health care bill, bypassing committee hearings and without a single Republican vote.

Mrs. Obama also emphasized the importance of early voting, which is already under way in some states a full month before Election Day.

“As we’ve seen over the past several years, I mean not just the past four years, but for the past decade, you know, who’s in the White House determines so much about how our country looks,” Mrs. Obama said.

“You know, whether or not we have healthcare, when we go to war and why,” she continued. “Who’s on our Supreme Court? And the decisions that that court makes. You know, how our tax policies work. I mean, you know, whether kids have money for college grants and student loans. I mean all of that. And, and for young people, you know, it is so important for them to understand that they’re going to inherit all of this. You know? Like it or not.”

The first lady said she wants people to be “actively engaged as early as possible in shaping the country that they’re going to live in and have to raise their kids in.”

Mrs. Obama said the month before the election is an important one: “And the debates are going to happen this evening, as you very well know. And I think it’s important for people to tune in, just to make sure they understand where each candidate stands on the issues.”